


Odo's Hero

by imnotokaywiththerunning



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-02-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 23:42:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29340765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imnotokaywiththerunning/pseuds/imnotokaywiththerunning
Summary: In a change of circumstance, Odo relies on Quark to get him out of trouble. It goes about as well as Odo expects.
Relationships: Odo/Quark (Star Trek)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Quodo Mini-fest





	Odo's Hero

**Author's Note:**

  * For [electricsunrise](https://archiveofourown.org/users/electricsunrise/gifts).



**-A Daring Rescue-**

Not for the first time, Odo wished he was a changeling again. Solid Odo was nearly useless. Here he was, cramped and trapped behind a pallet of illegal contraband that he thought had been Quark’s but apparently belonged to the Orion Syndicate. And to protect their investment, they’d hired four Nausicaan mercenaries. There was no way he could take on all four of them on his own. Not as a solid. If making noise wouldn’t have given away his hiding spot, Odo would have cursed. 

A commotion from the front door had Odo peering over the top of boxes again. Someone had just tried to sneak into the cargo hold and promptly fell on their backside. Odo did groan now. Just what he needed. Someone else to be in danger. It was bad enough that he was stuck here with these criminals on his own. 

“Fancy place you got here,” an annoyingly familiar voice called out. A quick peek over the top of the boxes confirmed his worst fear. Quark had stumbled into the cargo hold. Odo was going to kill him when they got out of this. 

“What are you doing here, little man?” one of the Nausicaan brutes ground out through bared teeth. 

Quark merely smiled at him, his sense of self preservation oddly absent. He spread his arms out wide in front of him and strolled up to the giant Nausicaan. “Well, I heard that there was some Romulan Ale on board, and I’ve got some extra latinum burning a hole in my pockets.”

The Nausicaan looked down to inspect Quark’s pockets for holes. Quark batted their hands away with a dramatic sigh. “Not literally!” At the Nausicaan’s blank stare, he sighed again. “It’s an expression. You know, like saying keep your ears open? Nevermind, the point is I want to buy some of your Romulan Ale.”

The Nausicaans looked to the biggest of the four. Quark began to fidget under the Nausicaan’s steely gaze until he nodded once. The other three turned to heft a large crate to drop at Quark’s feet. 

“Pay up, Ferengi.”

Quark reached into his pockets and pulled out a bar of gold pressed latinum. “How can I be sure you won’t kill me and take my money AND my Romulan Ale?”

“You won’t,” the biggest Nausicaan growled. He reached out and roughly grabbed the latinum out of Quark’s hands. Odo barely had time to blink before the bar of latinum turned to dust in the Nausicaan’s grip and a white gas floated into the air. 

“Sorry, gentlemen, but I won’t be needing that ale after all,” Quark said with a leer. “I’m actually here for a friend.”

The Nausicaans all began to rush Quark. They were all so much bigger than the small Ferengi. He was going to get hurt. Before he could even think about what he was doing, Odo popped up from his hiding place and shouted. “I’m not your friend, Quark!”

His shout gave Quark just enough time to leap out of arm's reach from the Nausicaans who had become completely engulfed in the smoke from the fake latinum bar. They began to cough and one-by-one fell over onto the ground unconscious. 

Quark beamed at Odo. He sauntered over to meet Odo halfway between the Nausicaans and the crate where Odo had been hiding. “Now what kind of thanks is that for a daring rescue? Of course, we’re friends, Odo”

“Friends? Rescue?” Odo growled. He crossed his arms over his chest to stare down his nose at Quark. Odo already felt more at ease now that they were bickering once again. “It looked an awful lot like an illegal transaction gone wrong to me.”

“Fine,” Quark sighed. “Believe what you want. Here I am trying to do a nice thing for someone and it’s going to end with you throwing me in jail. I can’t believe you--”

Quark continued his rant, but Odo could no longer make out the words he was saying. The cargo hold was going fuzzy around the edges. In fact, he felt like he could just lie down right here for a nap. That was something he was still getting used to. Sleep. Solid bodies were so odd. Why would anyone choose to go unconscious for a third of their lives? It made no sense to him.

“Odo?” Quark’s voice sounded far away but his worried face was right in front of Odo’s. There were hands on Odo’s arms as well. He frowned at them. Were those his hands?

“Odo, what’s wrong? What’s happening?” Quarks sounded almost worried. Odo chuckled. Why would Quark be worried? Everything was fuzzy and warm and Odo was just going to take a nice little nap right here.

**-A Life Saved and Bad Habits-**

“Honestly, Quark, why would you even release a gas like that? Nitrous oxide gas can be incredibly dangerous in large quantities.”

“Not for Ferengi. And usually not for Odo either! How was I supposed to know becoming a solid would change anything?”

Odo blinked slowly, regaining consciousness to Dr. Bashir and Quark bickering over his prone body. Their voices grated on his aching head. He couldn’t remember how he’d gotten to the medbay in the first place. The last thing he remembered was staking out that odd shipment he’d suspected of belonging to the Orion Syndicate and then being trapped by a group of Nausicaan mercenaries. The events after were fuzzy at best. He remembered someone coming into the cargo hold and talking with the Nausicaans, but who would be stupid enough to try that? Odo blinked his eyes wide open.

“Quark.”

“Odo! You’re awake!” Quark beamed down at him, alarmingly close to Odo’s face. The smile faded from his face at Odo’s scowl. Quark cleared his throat, “I mean, it’s about time you woke up. I can’t waste all my time waiting on you not to die when I could be making money.”

“How do you feel, Odo?” Bashir asked, running a scanner over Odo’s body. “Any pain or dizziness?”

“Both,” Odo grunted. Two syllable words were a little difficult right now. He felt as if he’d been beaten by four Nausicaans. He nearly laughed. 

“That’s to be expected,” Bashir nodded. “You should be happy to know that you will make a full recovery. Though it was a near thing. Nitrous oxide gas is nothing to mess about with?”

“Again, how was I supposed to know that would almost kill Odo? I thought it only affected Nausicaans.”

“You released nitrous oxide gas in a cargo hold?!” Odo gasped. “If that had escaped to the rest of the station, we’d all be dead!”

Quark shrugged. “It doesn’t affect me. And I was only trying to get rid of those Nausicaans to help you escape! You should be thanking me for saving your life.”

“You’ve got an odd way of saving my life, Quark.” Odo sat up, feeling well enough to give Quark the proper lecture he deserved. “You almost killed me!”

Quark held up a hand. “But I didn’t!”

“Quark!” Odo growled, ready to throttle the unrepentant Ferengi with his bare hands. 

“Now gentleman!” Dr. Bashir said over their near shouting. “Quark does have a point. He did in fact save your life.”

“What?!”

“I did?”

Bashir grinned at them both. “Of course! If he hadn’t brought you straight to the medbay when he did, you likely would have died. Now it is unfortunate that he was the cause of your needing to come to the medbay, but at least you were able to get out of the cargo hold without an altercation with a group of angry Nausicaans.”

“See, what did I tell you? I was only trying to help.” Quark nodded his thanks to Bashir. 

Odo sighed. The last thing he needed right now was an argument. His whole body felt wrung out. “Fine. You win. Thank you for saving my life, Quark.”

“Anytime, Odo,” Quark grinned smugly.

Odo grunted. “Let’s just not make it a habit.”


End file.
